Custom Trip Planning

A trip built around the way you travel

Get a trip planned better than ChatGPT. You bring your ideas, your concerns, your wishlist. I'll craft an itinerary with options to match what you've dreamed of, and even more. Be it a honeymoon, an anniversary, a multi-generational family trip, a week at one resort, or the trip you've been meaning to take for years, it's built from the ground up to fit your pace, your budget, and what you want out of it.

Feet up with a glass of wine, looking out over a Tuscan vineyard at golden hour.
Custom trip planning

The best part of a trip starts before you leave

Trip planning can be fun.

There's the first step, when you gather guidebooks, Instagram Reels, that long list of travel blogs, where the options are endless and exciting. But then comes the hard work of putting it all together. Endless spreadsheets, tabs, research into hours of operation and price comparison.

That's the part I take off your hands. I transform your wishlist into something real. A detailed itinerary with dates, prices, and logistics thought out. All so you can look forward to the best part of traveling: being there.

What you get

What a planned trip actually buys you

Expert travel and expert research

Deep research into a place that comes from Marshall's nearly a decade in graduate school (at least some use came out of it). More than the top line tourism, what is new, what is on the rise, and what places are worth going.

Built for how you travel

Your pace, your interests, your budget. A day that starts before the sun rises and a day that begins with a leisurely brunch are very different trips, and I'll make sure your trip is for how you actually travel.

Reachable while you are away

A changed flight, a closed site, a restaurant that lost your booking. You message me and it gets handled before it costs you a morning.

The process

How it works

One cohesive plan, start to finish. Flights, hotels, transportation, and activities. Booked.

  1. Free consultation

    Share your travel dreams in a relaxed conversation.

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    • No commitment required
    • Virtual or phone meeting
    • We talk through your ideal trip
  2. Custom proposal

    Pay the $150 planning fee, then receive your tailored travel plan.

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    • A detailed day-by-day plan
    • Hotels and activities picked for you, not a template
    • A clear breakdown of what everything costs
  3. Refinement

    Fine-tune until it is right.

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    • Two rounds of revisions included
    • Expert suggestions where you want them
    • Flexible on pace, budget, and priorities
  4. Booking and payment

    I handle the reservations and the details.

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    • Every reservation secured on your behalf
    • Payments and confirmations tracked in one place
    • Documentation organized before you need it
  5. Travel with support

    Enjoy the trip with full support behind you.

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    • Support for the whole trip, not just booking day
    • Local connections when you need a recommendation
    • Changes handled as they come up, not after
A quiet Spanish street, the kind of place a well-planned day finds room for.
From happy clients

Travel success stories

From skiing in Japan to shark diving in Fiji, Marshall’s three-week itinerary was so well-planned and made for a trip we will never forget!

Allie & Evan

Japan & Fiji Honeymoon · March 2025

See what's possible

Sample itinerary

Days 1–4

Amalfi Coast

Spa hotel in a quiet coastal town

  • A full-day boat tour to Capri, with snorkeling stops along the way
  • Free days built in — nothing booked, on purpose
Ferry, then train
Days 5–8

Rome

A restored 17th-century convent in Trastevere

  • The Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, tickets sorted in advance
  • A small-group food tour through Trastevere's back streets
Train, then rental car
Days 9–12

Tuscany

An agriturismo outside Montepulciano, vineyard view

  • A guided Brunello tasting at a family winery in Montalcino
  • A pasta-and-tiramisu class in a Siena local's home
Train, direct
Days 13–15

Venice

A five-star hotel near the Rialto Bridge

  • Days left open for canals, bridges, and getting a little lost
  • Breakfast included at every hotel on the route

Honeymoon in Italy

A gondola prow gliding down a quiet Venice canal, stone bridge ahead.
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Why use a travel advisor?

The value of expert planning

I often hear the question, "Can't I just book this myself?"

You can. Planning a trip yourself is possible, of course — it just tends to cost more than the sticker price suggests.

  • Travel advisors save travelers an average of $452 per trip and four hours of planning time, according to an ASTA-commissioned study.
  • The hours of research a good trip actually takes — usually 15 to 30 for something a week or longer — aren't free. Your time is money.
  • The stress of coordinating flights, hotels, and transfers that all depend on each other.
  • The detail that gets missed and quietly ruins a day — a closed museum, a ferry that only runs twice a week.
  • Someone to call if any of it goes sideways while you are there.

What your time is actually worth

A rough estimate, not an invoice — just a way to see what the hours are worth before you spend them.

The real cost of your time

About $375

That's a rough value of the hours you'd spend planning it yourself — not a quote for anything we offer.

A $150 planning fee applies once we start building your itinerary — it covers the research and the back-and-forth that goes into getting it right.

Questions about custom planning

Why work with a travel advisor?

The hours it takes to compare hotels, routes, and logistics are hours I already spend for a living. The commission that pays for that time is built into what hotels, cruise lines, and resorts charge, whether you book direct or through me. You get the research without doing it.

How much does this cost?

Custom trip planning carries a $150 fee. Cruises and resort-only bookings don't carry that fee — the supplier's commission covers the work. And if a cruise is part of a larger custom trip, the $150 fee is waived.

Do you book everything?

Almost everything, with two exceptions worth naming. I generally steer clear of Airbnbs, though I'll book one when it's genuinely the right fit for a trip. Flights, yes, in most cases — depending on the trip's tier and destination, I may identify the right flight and have you book it directly with the airline, which protects your recourse if something changes.

Can I talk to you before I fill out the form?

Yes. Email me and we'll talk it through first — the form is there to make things easier, not to be a gate you have to get past.

How short can the trip be?

There's no hard minimum, but a weekend is usually too short to be worth a $150 planning fee. If you have something specific in mind, send an email or fill out the form and we'll figure out if it makes sense.

Can you do a custom trip plus a cruise?

Yes, and it's a common combination — a custom-planned stay on either side of a cruise, for example. When a cruise booking is part of the trip, the $150 custom planning fee is waived.

Does it cost more to book through you?

No. The commission that funds this is already built into what hotels, cruise lines, and resorts charge. Booking through me is the same price as booking direct.

How do you get paid?

Two ways, depending on the trip. Custom itineraries carry a $150 planning fee. Cruises and resort-only bookings pay a commission instead, already built into the price you'd pay direct.

What if something goes wrong while I’m traveling?

I stay reachable while you're away. If a flight changes, a hotel falls through, or a cruise itinerary gets swapped mid-sailing, I work the problem so you don't have to.

How far ahead should I reach out?

Depends on the trip. Cruises are worth booking early. Custom trips can come together closer in, though the options narrow the later you start. If you want to use points, plan on at least nine months out to get good rates.

Do I have to use the hotels you pick?

No. What I send is a starting recommendation built around what you told me. If a hotel doesn't work for you, I find another. The plan is final when you say it is.

Is a resort-only week the same as custom planning?

It's a shorter version of the same thing. The work is matching one resort to what your week needs to include, then picking the room category and add-ons worth paying for. A resort-only booking with no multi-stop itinerary has no $150 fee; the resort's commission covers it.

How long does this take?

I reply within 48 hours. After that, planning itself can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much back and forth the itinerary needs.

Ready to start?

Tell me the destination, dates, or just the dream trip you've never been able to figure out. We'll make your travel dreams come true.

Request a trip plan

Planning starts with a $150 fee — then it's all about the trip.